THE LIBRARY OF UNREAD BOOKS HEMAN CHONG & RENÉE STAAL STUDY GUIDE EARLY YEARS
STUDY GUIDE I EARLY YEARS I 2 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART & DESIGN Housed within the stunning architecture of the College of Saint Benilde s School of Design and Art (SDA), designed by local architect Ed Calma, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) is the only space in the Philippines that approximates an international contemporary art museum and gallery space. Located within an art college, MCAD s programmes are molded in line with the school s courses: film, fashion design, animation, multimedia art, photography, arts management, production design, technical theater, architecture, as well as music production. In step with this, MCAD produces outstanding exhibitions with world-wide standards by collaborating with professional artists and curators, both local and international. MCAD provides the experience and exposure to contemporary art works, usually only found outside the country. Its contemporary art exhibitions, projects, as well as other cultural and artinspired undertakings showcase the possibilities of technology and new media through its internationally-designed programme of contemporary art exhibitions enhanced by an ever-widening educational platform. MCAD COMMONS MCAD Commons is as an upcoming exhibition programme of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila. It is conceptualised as a programmed space that is removed from the main gallery space of the museum. Conceived as a project to continue the expanding activities of the museum, MCAD Commons brings MCAD s singular programming to a larger audience that allows for the engagement with creative development, ideas exchange, and support of the artistic process across the areas of research, art practice, and curatorial discourse. Following the thinking that art is reproducible, the choice of space is developed in-step with the creative formation of the show rather than as a passive, neutral receptacle. The varied formations of the shows will tie in with the community that sustains the site and the process of art making. THE LIBRARY OF UNREAD BOOKS HEMAN CHONG & RENÉE STAAL 29 June 26 August 2017 Tuesdays to Saturdays 5 th Floor, First United Bldg, 413 Escolta St, Binondo, Manila 1006 Philippines The second iteration of a ten-year-long project, The Library of Unread Books develops from the artist s deep-seated longing for books. Open to the public, the reference library is made up of donated books that are unread by their previous owners. By receiving and revealing that which people choose not to read, the Library is the result of a collective gesture that traces the perimeters of unwanted knowledge.
PRE-VISIT STUDY GUIDE I EARLY YEARS I 3 WHAT S A LIBRARY? Brainstorm with the children and ask them What s a library? Make a simple concept chart to gather their responses and take note of similarities. From this, let them make their own definition of a library. Ask the following questions to make the discussion more effective: What do you think you ll see in the library? Who works in a library? What do librarians do? What kind of books do you think you ll see in the library? How is a library made? Why do we need a library? VISIT A LIBRARY Visit your school and/or public library and maybe your own home library. You can try doing these activities during your visit: 1 Ask the children to draw a part or the whole library. You can let them draw the librarian too. Probe deeper into their drawings by asking them: What did you see in the library? What s your favorite part of the library? What s the name of the librarian? What does he/she do? 2 Go on a book hunt and let the children explore the library. Ask them to list down their favorite book titles. To make the library visit more worthwhile, allow them to borrow the books or resources they ve listed down. 3 Interview a librarian. Let the children make their own questions based on your previous discussions. Divide the tasks among the children. One or two children can be the ones asking questions while the others can write down the answers. You can ask your own questions too such as: What are the differences between a visitor and user? What can we do to bring in more visitors to the library? Let the children answer too. Doing this will let them be active during the discsussion also. THINK AND REFLECT Have a group discussion after your library visit. Let the children look back at the library definition they made and see if it s still consistent with the new concepts they ve learned. Share new learnings and ideas of what a library is and maybe make new library definitions. Take note of these in preparation for the museum visit.
VISIT STUDY GUIDE I EARLY YEARS I 4 EXPLORE THE EXHIBIT You can try these activities during the museum visit: 1 Count how many books are in the exhibition. Let it be a counting game! Whoever counts or guesses the correct number of books from the exhibit gets a prize. 2 Make a scrapbook of their favorite books from the exhibition. Let the children draw or take pictures of the books they like. Ask them to describe their physical features. Let them characterize in terms of their size (big, small, medium) or their weight (light, middle, heavy) or their color (brightly colored, dark colored, neutral color, etc), shape and other physical qualities. Allow them to look at the pages also. Are there pictures in the book? Are the words big or small? You can let them list down the books descriptions in the scrapbook or in a separate notebook. You can make your own scrapbook too and show the children during the discussion later. DO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER Once done taking a look at the exhibit, have meeting time with the children and gather round in a circle. Ask them to take out their scrapbooks and share one book they liked. Take note of the similarities in their answers and ask the following questions: Why do you like these books? There s a saying that goes Do not judge a book by its cover. If your favorite books looked different, would you still read them? Why or why not? What makes you like and read a book? What do you think happens to the books people don t like to read? THINK AND REFLECT Ask the following questions during meeting time too. Take note of the children s answers. What did the Library of Unread Books looks like? Is it the same with the school/public library we visited? Why or why not? Did you see a librarian there? What did you see instead? What s the purpose of the Library of Unread Books? Does it have the same purpose with the school/public library we visited? Why or why not? DONATE A BOOK YOU HAVE NOT READ OR WHICH SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS NOT YET READ
POST-VISIT STUDY GUIDE I EARLY YEARS I 5 MAKE YOUR OWN LIBRARY Create a Venn Diagram showing the similarities and differences of the school/public library you visited as well as the Library of Unread Books. From this, you can do the following in making your own library: Ask the children to bring their own books (either read or unread) to start your own library. From this, sort them to either read or unread. Dedicate a day for a DEAR session (Drop Everything and Read). Give the children time to explore the library and read books both from the Read and Unread sections. Have a show and tell where the children can show each other their favorite book from the library you made. The children can even make their own books and make it part of the library. HAVE A CHILDREN S BOOK AWARDS In the Philippines, there is an award given to writers and the illustrators of children s books and these are named after a writer (Alfrredo N. Salanga and Larry Alcala). Look at international awards and get to know the children s book authors after whom these awards were named. Try to read their books. From the books created by the children, you can create your own children s book awards. List down the criteria, promote the award and design the trophy/plaque yourself. Meet with classmates or friends to decide on the winner, and invite the winners to school or to your community. GET IN TOUCH WITH PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS Invite children s book authors to come visit your school and talk about their books or have a reading session with you. In the Philippines, some of the publishers are Anvil Books, Tahanan Books, and Adarna House. Be sure to have questions ready for the authors and/or illustrators. WRITE TO YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR You can write to your favorite author, telling him/her what book of his/hers that you read and is your favorite and why. READING BINGO Make reading more fun by playing book bingo. On the next page is a sample of a bingo card you can reproduce or you can make your own bingo cards by: 1 replacing the activities in the columns and rows 2 adding more columns and rows Once done accomplising the reading bingo, reflect on the following questions: How can I make reading more fun? Do I give myself enough time to read? Why or why not?
STUDY GUIDE I EARLY YEARS I 6 READING BINGO READ TO A CUDDLY TOY READ A STORY TO AN ADULT THEN ASK THEM QUESTIONS ABOUT IT READ A COMIC BOOK READ ALOUD A BOOK WITH LOTS OF EXPRESSION READ A BOOK AND THEN DRAW A NEW COVER FOR IT READ A NON- FICTION BOOK READ A STORY AND THEN INVENT A NEW TITLE RECIPE FOR A CAKE YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE READ A STORY, SUBSTITUTING THE MAIN CHARACTER S NAME FOR YOURS READ TO A SIBLING OR FRIEND BEGINNING OF A STORY AND INVENT YOUR OWN ENDING SAME BOOK AS A FRIEND AND DISCUSS IT WITH THEM FREE READ FOR 15 MINUTES IN A COMFY CHAIR READ A BOOK AND DESCRIBE A CHARACTER FROM IT IN AS MUCH DETAIL AS POSSIBLE READ A MAGAZINE INVENT A STORY ABOUT A MONSTER INSTRUCTIONS OF A GAME YOU LIKE PLAYING LISTEN TO AN ADULT READ A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE AND SUMMARIZE IT READ A POEM READ A PICTURE BOOK THEN RETELL THE STORY IN YOUR OWN WORDS READ TWO BOOKS. WHICH DO YOU PREFER AND WHY? READ A STORY AND INVENT A SEQUEL TO IT READ IN PUBLIC READ A BOOK WITH AN ADULT, READING ALTERNATE SENTENCES